The low down on Rockville, Gaithersburg, and the surrounding areas. (Baltimore: best schools, college)

[reiflame]

Are you seriously comparing Columbus and DC?

Also, there are a ton of places you can rent for $1500 a month that are not in crime ridden areas. No one forced you to buy a house; you could easily have found a different apartment to rent.

[molukai]

reiflame, how did you come up with that conclusion with partial knowledge of my situation? you can't, so don't try.

(1) I have a family with children. A 1 bedroom does NOT work.
(2) I do not want to pay $1500 for an apartment, hence why I moved OUT.
(3) My rent in an area that is even of limited desirability with enough space for my family would have been over $1500.
(4) My current mortgage for a new, top-of-the-line house with 6 bedrooms costs me less per month than when I had started my one bedroom rent.
(5) There is no fiscal sense in renting versus owning, as I am not a fan of throwing money out of the window for what amounts to a substandard hotel room.

And you will need to build upon your open display of indignance regarding my mentioning of Columbus and Alexandria VA. I find it perfectly valid to mention the two cities, although I was not comparing the cities. I was more precisely comparing the rents. My current position actually began when I was there, with the same salary. But ignoring my personal salary, the salary variation between here and there is not 3-4x, which is the case with the rent scenario I described (oh, and for the record, the biggest contributor for that salary disparity between regions is because of housing). Due to the many studies currently out there regarding DC area housing, rent only stands to raise further as more people are anticipated to move here, thinking that renting is the best option.

[reiflame]

Ok molukai, whatever you say. Clearly you were forced to buy an overpriced house instead of looking for a more affordable rental. Clearly people selling homes in DC are "price gouging" because they are asking what the market will pay. Clearly this is not a matter of simple supply and demand.

And clearly DC and Columbus are equivelent in cost of living, so clearly DC should be cheaper.

You clearly should just go back to Columbus.

[molukai]

reiflame, your dismissive statements do little to strengthen your argument or weaken mine. Given that I have set up permanent root in this area for several reasons, I have made the sensible choice in purchasing a house rather than continuing to rent. That does not mean that the house was not overpriced, nor does it mean that I am happy about being here. It also does not take away from the fact that it is my opinion that price gouging is occurring for the valid reasons I have stated previously, which you have as of yet failed to rebut. My argument is that to simply say that the market is 'supply and demand' is superficial and shows a limited conceptual grasp of the environment.

And thanks for recommending that I should go to a clearly superior city (in my not-so-humble opinion). But I cannot, as I have already mentioned I have reasons that necessitate my permanent fixture in this region. I hope the rest of your day goes better than this thread has been for you.

[BigCityDreamer]

Columbus, Ohio is superior to Washington, D.C.? On what planet is this? lol.

[molukai]

*shrug* that's my view having lived in both places. Perhaps it is because I put high stock in intelligence, which Columbus was the -only- city in the -entire- US to be named as one of the most intelligent cities in the world.
Columbus Named Most Intelligent City In America - Local News - Columbus, OH | NBC News

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by molukai

*shrug* that's my view having lived in both places. Perhaps it is because I put high stock in intelligence, which Columbus was the -only- city in the -entire- US to be named as one of the most intelligent cities in the world.
Columbus Named Most Intelligent City In America - Local News - Columbus, OH | NBC News

MSNBC's article is a bit misleading. I'll let other people figure out what the heck the ICF is and is supposed to do.

https://www.intelligentcommunity.org...entCommunities

Intelligent Communities are those which have – whether through crisis or foresight – come to understand the enormous challenges of the Broadband Economy, and have taken conscious steps to create an economy capable of prospering in it. They are not necessarily big cities or famous technology hubs.

[reiflame]

Originally Posted by molukai

*shrug* that's my view having lived in both places. Perhaps it is because I put high stock in intelligence, which Columbus was the -only- city in the -entire- US to be named as one of the most intelligent cities in the world.
Columbus Named Most Intelligent City In America - Local News - Columbus, OH | NBC News

It's ok, real cities aren't for everybody.

[molukai]

Originally Posted by reiflame

It's ok, real cities aren't for everybody.

Cities are defined by their populations. Washington DC City Proper is 632K. Columbus OH City Proper is 787K. Your argument is invalid.

[reiflame]

Originally Posted by molukai

Cities are defined by their populations. Washington DC City Proper is 632K. Columbus OH City Proper is 787K. Your argument is invalid.

DC is a 6 million person metro area (more if you include Baltimore since the two are in the process of growing into each other). The size of the city is artificially low because it has pre-determined federally set boundaries and building height limits. It literally can't get much bigger. Columbus isn't even 2 million total.

Cities are also defined by the amenities they have, and Columbus is a joke compared to the culture you get in DC. Columbus has a hockey team, no baseball, football or hockey. Even Buffalo has 2 of the four. Columbus doesn't have theaters, restaurants or museums that DC has. In short, Columbus is a perfectly fine second tier city, but it has nothing on NY, DC, Chicago, LA or SF.